EXCLUSIVE - 'I came within a finger twitch of seeing her head splatter': Former detective reveals chilling words of 'troubled teenager' to police after trying to assassinate the Queen with a rifle on 1981 New Zealand tour

Christoper John Lewis attempted to murder the Queen with a .22 rifle in Dunedin

He missed, but two years later tried to kill Charles when he returned with Diana

Police did not charge teen with treason as case was 'politically too hot to handle'

Former Dunedin police officer Tom Lewis said then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon feared the Royals would not return to New Zealand if word got out

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

He later claimed the incident was hushed up on the orders of the New Zealand government and those police officers who wanted Lewis charged with attempted treason moved off the case to other work.

Lewis was only ever charged with illegal possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon but never for trying to kill her during a visit to Dunedin.

The retired detective told MailOnline: 'When I interviewed the teen he was very clear of what would have happened.

'He said he had taken up position in a place called the Octagon with his .22 rifle. He was less than 50m from where the Queen would walk past and was a crack shot.

Lewis (pictured) grew up with his single mother and then his strict stepfather

'He told me that he had a direct shot and had her hat in his sights and was waiting for her head to splatter. He said he was just a finger twitch away from killing the Queen.

'Fortunately two police officers walked into his line of sight and he did not take the shot. Had he done so he would have changed the course of history.'

Lewis, who later plotted to kill Prince Charles and Princess Diana in a 1984 visit to New Zealand, retreated to a second firing position. This time he did pull the trigger of his .22 rifle but the bullet did not strike anything.

The attempted assassination only came to light when Lewis was arrested for an earlier robbery of post office.

Former detective Lewis said one of his accomplices suddenly blurted out that the teen was angry because he had 'missed the Queen'.

Now retired and living on Australia's Gold Coast 72-year-told Mr Lewis vividly recalls sitting down with Lewis as the teen talked about his attempt on the Queen's life.

He said the initial charging sheet contained the words ''attempted treason' which carried the death penalty. Lewis said when senior officers realised the enormity of what this would mean he was sent on leave.

When he returned he had been taken off the investigation and there was no mention of an attempt to kill the Queen.

Bespectacled Lewis was found electrocuted in his prison cell - and died protesting his innocence for the murder of a mother-of-three who was battered to death

Lewis lived at this Albany St flat in the heart of Dunedin's student quarter when he was 17, studying by correspondence when he was arrested over the attempted murder of the Queen

The shooter was later jailed for three years for a post office raid and firing a gun near the Queen. He spent the final year of his sentence in a psychiatric hospital but escaped to try and kill Charles and Di who were on a royal visit.

'There is no doubt in my mind that had he got hold of a gun he would have carried out the attempt on Prince Charles and Diana. The man was a psychopath with a hatred of the royal family.'

Lewis would die 16 years later while being held on remand for the murder of Tania Furlan.

He was able to kill himself in the most gruesome fashion by wrapping a wet towel around his head and using bare wires from a TV which he pushed into an electric junction box in his cell.

Tom Lewis (right) is the detective who investigated Lewis's case

Lewis said his namesake had shown a liking of violence from an early age and not been afraid to inflict pain on those who crossed him. Aged 11 he almost killed a neighbour by strangling her with a belt and later would stab a boy in the head with a pair of scissors. Before taking his own life in 1997 Lewis left behind an autobiography that detailed the childhood abuse and neglect that shaped him.

In his own words, the bespectacled drifter told how he his life had become a 'living hell' after his mother re-married and he was abused by his stepfather. He said he was left in a state of constant terror and would be beaten with a leather belt for minor indiscretions, such as not washing his hands or forgetting to feed his pet guinea pig.

When he was just four years old he was thrown out of nursery school after pushing a boy off a slide. His later school years were marred by expulsions for showing classmates porn images, playing with matches and tipping over a teacher's desk. He idolised the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and cult leader Charles Manson and friends described Lewis as a 'true psychopath' who once ripped the head of a bird 'just for the fun of it'.

Former classmate Paul Taane said Lewis was 'messed up beyond belief' - adding: 'He always wanted to know what it would be like to take someone's life.'

Lewis claimed he never intended to hurt the Queen and only wanted to scare her. When later talking to his partner about the shooting he confessed to an assassination attempt. 'Damm, I missed her,' he said according to Stuff NZ magazine.

On his release from prison Lewis attempted to go straight, but veered back into a life of petty crime. He remained on the intelligence services' watch list and in 1995 when the Queen returned to New Zealand he was exiled to Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf because of police fears for the Queen's safety during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Auckland.

The Queen was targeted by the Royal fanatic during a walkabout on a New Zealand tour in 1981

Queen Elizabeth ll smiles during an inspection as she tours New Zealand on October 1, 1981

A year later he was arrested for the murder of Mrs Furlan in Auckland. She was beaten to death with a hammer with forensic evidence linking Lewis the crime in July 1996.

Police said a footprint found at the murder scene matched those of a pair of Reebok trainers worn by Lewis. They also said a notebook found at his home had indentations from where he had written the ransom note.

While Lewis admitted almost all his crimes he protested his innocence the to the murder and insisted he had been framed. He never stood trial as he killed himself in his cell.

A re-investigation of the Furlan murder failed to clear Lewis. His mother, speaking after an inquest into her son's death, said he had suffered from an 'untreatable' mental disorder and said he was 'psychologically disturbed'.

But she added she still loved her son, saying: 'He's my son, I still love him and I always will.'